Signs of pneumonia

The first signs of pneumonia in children and adults

Pneumonia is a disease that has an infectious origin and is characterized by inflammation of the lung tissue in the event of provoking physical or chemical factors such as:

• Complications after viral diseases (influenza, ARVI), atypical bacteria (chlamydia, mycoplasma, legionella)
• Effects on the respiratory system of various chemical agents - poisonous fumes and gases (see. chlorine in household chemicals is hazardous to health)
• Radioactive radiation, to which infection is attached
• Allergic processes in the lungs - allergic cough, COPD, bronchial asthma
• Thermal factors - hypothermia or burns of the respiratory tract
• Inhalation of liquids, food or foreign bodies can cause aspiration pneumonia.

The cause of the development of pneumonia is the emergence of favorable conditions for the multiplication of various pathogenic bacteria in the lower respiratory tract. The original causative agent of pneumonia is the aspergillus mushroom, which was the culprit of the sudden and mysterious deaths of researchers of the Egyptian pyramids. Owners of domestic birds or lovers of urban pigeons can get chlamydial pneumonia.

For today, all pneumonia is divided into:

• out-of-hospital, arising under the influence of various infectious and non-infectious agents outside the walls of hospitals
• hospital, which cause hospital-acquired microbes, often very resistant to traditional antibiotic treatment.

The frequency of detection of various infectious agents in community-acquired pneumonia is presented in the table.

Causative agent	Average% detection
Streptococcus is the most frequent pathogen. Pneumonia caused by this pathogen is the leader in the frequency of death from pneumonia.	3, %
Mycoplasma - affects most children, young people.	1, %
Chlamydia - chlamydial pneumonia is typical for people of young and middle age.	1, %
Legionellae - a rare pathogen, affects weakened people and is the leader after streptococcus by frequency of deaths (infection in rooms with artificial ventilation - shopping centers, airports)	, %
Hemophilus rod - causes pneumonia in patients with chronic bronchial and lung diseases, as well as in smokers.	, %
Enterobacteria are rare pathogens, affecting mainly patients with renal / hepatic, cardiac insufficiency, diabetes mellitus.	, %
Staphylococcus is a frequent pathogen of pneumonia in the elderly population, and complications in patients after the flu.	, %
Other pathogens	, %
The causative agent is not installed	3, %

When the diagnosis is confirmed, depending on the type of pathogen, the patient's age, the presence of concomitant diseases, a corresponding therapy, in severe cases, treatment should be performed in a hospital setting, with mild forms of inflammation, hospitalization of the patient is not is required.

Characteristic first signs of pneumonia, the vastness of the inflammatory process, acute development and danger of serious complications in untimely treatment - are the main reasons for the urgent circulation of the population for medical help. At present, a sufficiently high level of medical development, improved diagnostic methods, and a huge the list of antibacterials of a wide spectrum of action has considerably lowered a death rate from an inflammation of lungs (cm. antibiotics for bronchitis).

Typical first signs of pneumonia in adults

The main symptom of the development of pneumonia is a cough, usually it is first dry, obtrusive and persistent. protivokashlevye, expectorants with a dry cough), but in rare cases cough at the beginning of the disease can be rare and not strong. Then, as the inflammation develops, the cough becomes pneumatic with pneumonia, with a discharge of mucopurulent sputum (yellow-green color).

Any catarrhal virus disease should not last more than 7 days, and a sharp deterioration of the condition later 4-7 days after the onset of an acute respiratory viral infection or influenza indicates the onset of an inflammatory process in the lower respiratory ways.

Body temperature can be very high up to 39-40C, and can remain subfebrile 3, -3, C (with atypical pneumonia). Therefore, even with a low body temperature, coughing, weakness and other signs of malaise, you should definitely consult a doctor. Caution should be a repeated temperature jump after a light gap during the course of a viral infection.

If the patient has a very high temperature, one of the signs of inflammation in the lungs is the inefficiency of antipyretic drugs.

Pain with deep breath and cough. The lung itself does not hurt, as it is devoid of pain receptors, but involvement in the pleura process gives a pronounced pain syndrome.

In addition to cold symptoms, the patient has dyspnea and pale skin.
General weakness, increased sweating, chills, decreased appetite are also characteristic for intoxication and the onset of the inflammatory process in the lungs.

If such symptoms appear either in the midst of a cold, or a few days after the improvement, these may be the first signs of pneumonia. The patient should immediately consult a doctor to undergo a complete examination:

• To pass blood tests - general and biochemical
• To make a roentgenography of a thorax, if necessary and a computer tomography
• Sputum for culture and sensitivity of the pathogen to antibiotics
• Sputum for culture and microscopic determination of mycobacterium tuberculosis

The main first signs of pneumonia in children

Symptoms of pneumonia in children have several characteristics. Attentive parents may suspect the development of pneumonia with the following discomforts in the child:

• Temperature

Body temperature above 38C, lasting for more than three days, not knocked down by antipyretics, there may also be a high temperature of up to 3, especially in young children. At the same time, all signs of intoxication are manifested - weakness, increased sweating, lack of appetite. Small children (as well as elderly people), can not give high temperature fluctuations with pneumonia. This is due to imperfect thermoregulation and immaturity of the immune system.

• Breath

There is frequent shortness of breath: in children up to 2 months of age, 60 breaths per minute, up to 1 year, 50 breaths, after a year, 40 breaths per minute. Often the child spontaneously tries to lie down on one side. Parents may notice another sign of pneumonia in the child, if you undress the baby, then when breathing from the patient lung can be noticed the retraction of the skin in between the ribs and the lag in the process of breathing one side of the chest. There may be irregular breathing rhythm, with periodic stops of breathing, changes in the depth and frequency of breathing. In infants, shortness of breath is characterized by the fact that the child begins to nod his head in time with the breath, the baby can stretch his lips and inflate his cheeks, foamy discharge from the nose and mouth can appear.

• Atypical pneumonia

Inflammation of the lungs caused by mycoplasma and chlamydia differ in that first the disease passes like a cold, there is a dry cough, runny nose, swelling in the throat, but the presence of dyspnea and a stably high temperature should alert parents to the development pneumonia.

• Character of cough

Because of the perspiration in the throat, only coughing can appear first, then the cough becomes dry and painful, which is amplified by crying, feeding the baby. Later, the cough becomes wet.

• Behavior of the child

Children with pneumonia become capricious, whiny, sluggish, they are disturbed by sleep, sometimes can completely refuse to eat, and also to appear diarrhea and vomiting, in babies - regurgitation and rejection of breasts.

• Blood test

In the general analysis of blood, changes are detected that indicate an acute inflammatory process - increased ESR, leukocytosis, neutrophilia. Shift of the leukoformula to the left with increasing stab and segmented leukocytes. In viral pneumonia, along with high ESR, there is an increase in leukocytes due to lymphocytes.

With timely access to a doctor, adequate therapy and proper care for a sick child or adult, pneumonia does not lead to serious complications. Therefore, at the slightest suspicion of pneumonia, the patient should be given medical care as soon as possible.

zdravotvet.ru

Symptoms of pneumonia in adults

Pneumonia is an infectious disease. It remains one of the most common in the world. It is the leader among nosocomial infections leading to death. It is important to know the symptoms of pneumonia in adults in order to take timely action. Treatment of pneumonia and the prognosis of the development of the disease depends on the nature of the infection, age and general condition of the patient.

What is pneumonia and how dangerous it is

Inflammation of the lungs in an acute form is called pneumonia. It is caused by infections that can be transmitted in various ways, affecting the lung tissue. In the list of diseases that caused death, she is in fifth place, and medicine does not always help. Lethal outcome among adults from pneumonia is 10-33%. Intrahospital and atypical form of the disease takes even more lives - the risk of dying increases to 50%. In elderly people, people with weakened immunity, the prognosis of pneumonia is often disappointing.

From usual pneumonia, 1-3% of young patients who do not have diseases that die, can die. Among elderly patients, the mortality rate is up to 40-50%. Causes of death from pneumonia:

• Concomitant diseases, such as cardiac pathologies, existing respiratory diseases (such as bronchitis), diabetes mellitus, problems in the genitourinary system;
• bad habits (smoking, especially lengthy experience, drug addiction, alcoholism);
• dysfunctional living conditions;
• weakened immunity.

A special risk of inflammation of the lungs is for pregnant women. The disease itself is heavy due to dangerous pathologies. For a woman who carries a child, she is doubly dangerous - for the future mother and fetus. In early terms, pneumonia is threatened by an embryo, the tissues and organs of which are not yet formed. In the last trimester for a child, pneumonia is less dangerous than for a mother. Prevention is simple: strengthening the immune system of the mother.

The first signs of pneumonia

Symptoms of pneumonia in adults depend on the type of infection that caused the disease. There are several types of pneumonia, and each has its own clinical picture. The provoking factor for the onset of pneumonia is hypothermia affecting the upper respiratory tract. In the elderly, it often goes into a pathological form. Symptoms of pneumonia in adults are several: they are divided into varieties of insidious disease. The common form of pneumonia is viral, occurs in half the cases. Other reasons:

• bacteria;
• mycoplasma;
• fungus;
• parasites;
• chlamydia;
• streptococcus.

Atypical

A disease that occurs without symptoms characteristic of pneumonia is called atypical. The latent inflammation of the lungs is dangerous because it is delayed for its treatment, when many complications appear. Pulmonary manifestations fade into the background, the patient is more concerned about general intoxication. The X-ray does not show changes in the airway. Signs of atypical inflammation:

• dry cough;
• sore throat;
• muscle pain;
• headache;
• weakness.

Aseptic atypical pneumonia is caused by Legionella, viruses, chlamydia, mycoplasmas, therefore, it is treated with antimicrobials. After infection, the symptoms of the disease manifest themselves in a period of 2 to 10 days. Changes in the lungs begin later than with a typical pneumonia. The temperature rises, the patient starts to suffocate, he does not have enough air. A large percentage of patients can be cured at home, but sometimes the ailment is difficult. The mortality from this type of disease is 3-5%, the cause is cardiopulmonary insufficiency.

Viral

This type of disease is caused by several viruses. In the first place - the flu. At the onset of pneumonia, triggered by the influenza virus, malaise is noticeable during 3-5 days. Then the condition worsens, shortness of breath starts, chest pains appear. Pneumonia is treated with rimantadine, zanamivir, oseltamivir. Viral pneumonia is caused by cytomegalovirus.

Serious complication of viral pneumonia is SARS, respiratory syndrome. It is caused by the viruses of Paramyxoviridae (they are also the cause of measles and mumps). The syndrome poses a great danger. Symptoms of pneumonia in adults with viral pneumonia are:

• very high temperature accompanied by chills;
• dry cough (unproductive);
• headache and muscle pain;
• fatigue without reason.

Bacterial

The cause of pneumonia in this case are bacteria: pneumococcus, staphylococcus, streptococcus. Bacterial pneumonia begins with a sharp temperature jump to a mark of 41 degrees. It lasts up to 3 days, and this symptom is considered a clear sign of bacterial infection. If the temperature then falls, then rises - this is a viral picture. Pneumococcal pneumonia is accompanied by the escape of "rusty" sputum, cardiac contractions become more frequent (tachycardia), breathing becomes more difficult. Treat the disease with antibiotics.

Grybkovoy

The most dangerous variant of pulmonary inflammation is fungal infection. It is due to the fact that fungal pneumonia is not manifested at first, and people do not know that they are sick. The disease is diagnosed late. The onset of the process of inflammation of the lung tissue is like atypical pneumonia, but with the exacerbation of symptoms, the nature of lung damage changes, cavities are formed. A frequent causative agent of such pneumonia is Candida albicans, a fungus. Initially, the patient has catarrhal symptoms: fever, cough, fatigue and shortness of breath. Then, when pussy is pus, then the correct diagnosis is made.

The main symptoms of pneumonia in an adult

The cold, the flu, should not last more than 7 days, if in 4-7 days after the onset of an acute respiratory infection the condition of the patient worsened, this signal starts in the lower respiratory tract of a dangerous inflammation. Symptoms of pneumonia in adults include pallor and dyspnea. If they have a cold, they are accompanied by weakness, sweating, decreased appetite - this is typical for intoxication in the beginning of pneumonia.

Temperature with pneumonia

With atypical pneumonia, body temperature is not always greater than 3,. In the usual cases, a sharp increase to 40 degrees is typical. With pneumonia, antipyretic drugs do not work. If you can not bring down the temperature - it's a sign of pneumonia. The temperature begins to drop when antibiotics work. It is dangerous if the disease runs without temperature: the patients sometimes do not take measures until the condition worsens. How much the temperature lasts depends on the pathogen: a fungus, a bacterium or a virus.

What a cough with pneumonia

At the beginning of the disease, a cough is dry, this is called unproductive. He becomes obtrusive, constant, exhausting. Inflammation develops - this symptom also changes. The sputum departs, the color of which depends on the nature of the infection: yellow-green, purulent, "rusty." Nasal cough, which does not pass for 7-10 days, is a clear sign of the inflammatory process in the lungs.

Voice tremor

The doctor can recognize the symptoms of the disease, assessing the patient's jittery response. The patient says words where there are several "p" sounds, and the doctor puts his hands on his chest, and determines the voice trembling. With pneumonia, part of the lung, or it is whole, becomes denser. This will be noticed by the medical doctor who conducts the diagnostics, by the fact that the voice tremor is amplified.

Diagnosis of the disease

If there is a suspicion of an inflammatory process in the lungs, a comprehensive diagnosis is performed. Sometimes already at the primary admission the doctor can determine the disease by conducting an auscultation, that is, having listened to the chest with a phonendoscope. But the main method of diagnosis in an adult is an X-ray. Necessarily the patient will take blood for general and biochemical analysis. If the patient is in the hospital, examine the culture of sputum, urine, check blood for antibodies to viruses.

Types of pneumonia

The mild forms of pneumonia, found in the initial stage, are treated at home. Remember that even mild pneumonia will complicate with improper care. It is necessary to adhere to the doctor's recommendations how to treat pneumonia in the home:

• antipyretic drugs, anti-inflammatory;
• an abundant drink is prescribed;
• an important component of the treatment is a diet: the body is poisoned by toxins, light foods, more fluids are required.

How to treat pneumonia, how long the process will last depends on the severity and variety of the disease. Infection is sometimes found in the lung tissue for years, leading to a chronic illness. Fibers and connective tissues are damaged, they press on the pulmonary vesicles, which leads to hardening of the lungs, pneumosclerosis. The patient feels discomfort, constantly coughs. It is a slow, prolonged illness, which gradually leads to complications.

Conventional pneumonia is divided into mild, moderate, severe and extremely severe in severity, it depends on how the disease proceeds. Severe acute forms include pleuropneumonia, when one or more of the lungs are inflamed. There is pneumonia in the localization:

• Focal (concentrated in the focus of inflammation);
• segmental or polysegmentary, depending on whether one or more segments are located;
• share - does not exceed one share;
• total - covers all the lungs.

One-sided and two-sided

The inflammatory process is concentrated either on one side or it is bilateral. Unilateral pneumonia is divided into two types:

1. Right-sided - occurs more often, the right bronchus is wider than the left and shorter than it, the infection penetrates there freer.
2. Left-sided - develops less often, with it there are stagnant processes in the lung.

Two-sided covers both lungs: all lung tissue becomes inflamed, and the disease is provoked by bacteria (pneumococcus, hemophilic rod). Against the background of one infection, other harmful microorganisms are multiplied, mixed-infection develops. In the fight against a person enter several pathogens, to select antibacterial drugs for treatment is difficult.

Basal

The focus of inflammation, located along the root of the lung, is difficult to diagnose. Such cases are called basal pneumonia. In the diagnosis of computed tomography. The doctor should exclude tuberculosis and lung cancer, the focus of inflammation is similar to a picture on a tumor. Tuberculin tests are carried out. If you mistakenly prescribe drugs against tuberculosis, but they do not give an effect - this is considered a diagnostic sign.

Bronchopneumonia

Bronchial pneumonia characterizes the lesion of small branches of the bronchial tree of the patient. Bronchopneumonia refers to focal. The process of recovery will take a long time. Sometimes the disease is secondary, develops against the background of bronchitis. A person tries to cure bronchitis, that is prolonged, the condition worsens, weakness appears, temperature jumps. The cough that accompanies bronchitis intensifies, unpleasant purulent sputum is separated, at times - with veins of blood.

Important symptoms of this disease: shortness of breath, increased heart rate to 110 strokes for a minute, chest pain. To the development of bronchopneumonia leads not only bronchitis, but also ARVI. Often this type of pneumonia and viruses cause this kind of pneumonia, in order to treat the disease correctly, establish a pathogen, prescribe antiviral drugs or antibacterial. How much the disease is treated depends on the type of pathogen.

Hospital

In addition to community-acquired pneumonia, which develops under normal conditions, there is a serious form of illness - hospital, it is also hospital-acquired. The diagnosis is made when the inflammation appears after two days and more after placing a person in a hospital clinic with a completely different diagnosis. This is the most ruthless species, killing 50% of patients. The disease is caused by microorganisms. Types of nosocomial pneumonia:

• associated with artificial ventilation;
• postoperative;
• Hospital-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized in serious condition.

Immunity of patients is weakened, the body struggled with another disease, was not ready to invade new microbes. To save the situation, patients are placed with droppers, use intravenous nutrition to maintain the vital forces of the body, use drugs of a new generation, potent drugs. Cure nosocomial pneumonia can not always. Treatment of pneumonia in this case is excluded.

The equity

Fracture pneumonia affects the lobe of the lung and the pleura. With this type of pneumonia, it is important to schedule injections of antibiotics, the duration of which is determined by the doctor. Applied physiotherapy, detoxification. Partial pneumonia begins suddenly and sharply. There are three forms of the disease:

• Upper-lobar - it is difficult, with neurological disorders;
• lower-lobed - gives a pseudo-picture of the "acute abdomen which confuses during diagnosis, chills and "rusty" sputum are characteristic;
• central - inflammation develops deep in the lung, symptomatology is poorly defined, difficult to define.

Croupous

Croupous pneumonia proceeds acutely. The nature of the defeat of the lungs is bilateral. If the pathology is not recognized and the treatment is not started quickly, the patient will die from cerebral hypoxia and cardiovascular insufficiency. The first day the patient has a dry cough. The next day, sputum is rusty, vomiting occurs. On the third day, it becomes worse, dyspnea appears, tachycardia develops. The patient is not able to climb to one floor. Treat croupous pneumonia in pulmonology, in a hospital or resuscitation. Pulmonary lobes of the patient are totally affected on both sides.

Video: types and symptoms of pneumonia

Pneumonia is a dangerous disease, it is important to determine it in the early stages, when the treatment is effective even with folk remedies at home. In the video offered below, experts will tell in detail about the symptoms of pneumonia, teach what to look for if pneumonia occurs without the typical symptoms. Timely detection will avoid irreversible consequences.

sovets.net

Signs of pneumonia?

Answers:

Morgunov Max

You should know some signs that allow you to suspect the development of pneumonia. 1. Cough became the main symptom of the disease. 2. Deterioration after improvement or any "catarrhal disease" lasting more than 7 days. 3. It is impossible to take a deep breath - such an attempt leads to a fit of coughing. 4. Pronounced pallor of the skin on the background of other symptoms of acute respiratory viral infection (temperature, runny nose, cough) .5. Shortness of breath at a low body temperature. 6. At high temperature, paracetamol (panadol, eferalgan, tylenol) does not help at all. The main signs of pneumonia (pneumonia) are: • Cough. Usually cough is accompanied by any respiratory (catarrhal) disease, with the child coughing more at night and in the morning. The cough is more often dry, it lasts for 7-10 days. With pneumonia, cough is almost constant, nasal, with sputum (young children often swallow it). Can be a rusty shade in older children. • Rapid breathing, when at rest the respiratory rate is higher than the norm: - up to 2 months. - it's 60 or more respiratory movements (counting or inhaling or exhaling) from 2 months. up to 12 months. - it is 50 and more respiratory movements; - from 12 months. up to 5 years is 40 or more respiratory movements. • Appearance of a difficult, sometimes moaning breathing with visible retraction of the subcostal or supraclavicular parts of the thorax. The child, as it were, includes all the muscles of the chest to facilitate breathing. • Cyanotic shade around the mouth, sometimes the face. • Toddlers - swelling of the wings of the nose. • Increase in temperature to high figures with chills, sometimes sweating. • Pain in the chest if lung inflammation passes to the pleura. • Pain in the abdomen, with inflammation of the lower parts of the lungs (sometimes mistakenly refer to surgical care) • Headache with irritation of the membranes of the brain. Older children complain of severe pain in the chest and abdomen, which is caused by muscle re-contractions due to persistent, painful cough. Children may have general weakness, lethargy, deterioration of appetite, sometimes refusal of food, sometimes confusion, vomiting, etc. Special caution is necessary if pneumonia affects the children of the first months (the first year) of life. The smaller the baby, the less obvious signs: there is no temperature, a typical cough. However, it is necessary to pay attention to the general condition of the child, who may have the following symptoms of pneumonia: - Severe lethargy, even immobility. - Noticeable swelling of the wings of the nose with a blue around the nose and lips. - Raging breath with entanglements. These are very dangerous signs of pneumonia and need immediate treatment in the hospital.

Lady with a dog

severe cough temperature

People tell me what signs of pneumonia

Answers:

YOU EC DAS

sweating temperature panting cough sometimes pain

[... Undergroud ...]

Signs of pneumonia:

You should know some signs that allow you to suspect the development of pneumonia.
1. Cough became the main symptom of the disease.

2. Deterioration after improvement or any "catarrhal disease" lasting more than 7 days.

3. It is impossible to take a deep breath - such an attempt leads to a fit of coughing.

4. The expressed pallor of a skin on a background of other signs ORVI (temperature, a rhinitis, tussis).

5. Shortness of breath at a low body temperature.

6. At high temperature, paracetamol (panadol, epheralgan, tylenol) does not help at all.

I want to emphasize that the knowledge of the 6 mentioned characteristics is not necessary in order to make a diagnosis, but in order not to be drawn with seeking medical help.

Leilochka

The first symptoms of pneumonia resemble common influenza, even if they are more intense. The patient complains of weakness, which, like a general malaise, is attributed, as a rule, to an inflammatory disease upper respiratory tract (runny nose, pharyngitis, tonsillitis); and this inflammation almost always has a place. Then the patient's condition deteriorates sharply. He loses his appetite, looks tired and depressed. He suffers from attacks of a dry cough that resembles whooping cough. Cough significantly deprives the patient of the strength, since the viscous mucus firmly adheres to the epithelium of the bronchial branches, and You need a lot of effort to cough it out even in small amounts, and sputum is often colored blood. True, this time neither complaints of shortness of breath, nor a blue tinge of cheeks and lips (a consequence of insufficient blood supply in the alveoli with oxygen), as is typical for bacterial pneumonia, not observed. On the contrary, the patient most often looks very pale.
The temperature, which was already high at the onset of the disease, rises even more, up to 3940 ° C. Silent for lung diseases altered sounds, which the doctor, when examining the patient, hears with percussion and auscultation, are very weak, and only when coughing are perceived in certain places of the chest as characteristic crackling rattles. These noises are caused by clumping in the alveoli and bronchioles of the secretion, which diverges only with a deep inspiration. Nevertheless, the symptoms of viral pneumonia are very diverse and vary from case to case. If, in some forms, they are very clearly expressed (for example, in the elderly, in children, in pregnant women), accompanied by high fever and rapid deterioration state of health of the patient, in other forms they are very weak or absent, so that the diagnosis can be made only with the help of an X-ray research.

Svetlana @ !!!

a high body temperature of 39 -40 which lasts more than 5-7 days, sweating, hypotension, general weakness. cough with phlegm, its color can be yellowish-brown, pain in the chest, with auscultation - wheezing damp. can be in all departments, breathing is weakened, the lung can not even participate in the act of breathing, but this is already... heavy pneumonia (croupous) with percussion - dullness of percussion sound
inpatient treatment

Symptoms of pneumonia of the lungs

Before discussing the symptoms of pneumonia, it is necessary to understand a little the nature of the disease and clarify the meaning of terms describing the inflammatory processes in the lungs.

The nature of the disease and its causes

Until the beginning of the 21st century, Soviet medicine extended the expanded interpretation of the term "pneumonia." It was used to describe any acute focal inflammation of the lung tissue regardless of the cause. In the Russian classification of the disease "acute pneumonia" there were isolated such forms as "pneumonia from exposure chemical and physical factors allergic pneumonia infectious-allergic pneumonia "and others options.

Currently, in accordance with international standards, the term "pneumonia" refers to acute infectious diseases of the pulmonary tissue of predominantly bacterial nature. It is characterized by a local (focal) lesion of the respiratory tissue of the lung with the swelling of the inflammatory fluid into the pulmonary vesicles. Symptoms of inflammation in the lung tissue are revealed when the patient is examined by a doctor and an x-ray examination of the chest organs. For inflammation of the lungs are characterized by: acute febrile reaction (fever) and severe intoxication.

Since this disease by definition is an acute infectious disease, the definition of "acute" before the word "pneumonia" in the diagnosis became redundant and out of use.

Is there a chronic pneumonia?

The term "chronic pneumonia" in modern medicine is also not used, as it lost a real clinical basis. "Chronic pneumonia" of the 20th century was divided into several diseases of different nature. To distinguish them was made possible by improving the methods of examination and the progress of medical science. Chronic inflammatory reaction in the pulmonary ways takes place with all these diseases, which have received separate names and special methods of treatment. The most common of these is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - a constant companion of tobacco smokers. Chronic bacterial infection is also characteristic of bronchiectasis.

What external signs does pneumonia have?

The first symptoms of inflammation of the lungs, which tell patients:

• sudden onset of the disease;
• acute fever (body temperature increase 8 8 ° C);
• tremendous chills;
• acute chest pain, worse with coughing and breathing;
• cough dry or unproductive;
• expectoration of a rusty color in a small amount;
• dyspnea;
• pronounced general weakness, fatigue;
• sweating at night and with minimal physical exertion.

The thought of pneumonia should occur when a combination of body temperature increases with complaints of coughing, sputum separation, dyspnea, chest pain. Also, patients with pneumonia, complain of unmotivated weakness, fatigue, increased sweating at night.

How to recognize the latent form of the disease?

Almost in all age categories - in children, adolescents and adults, inflammation of the lungs has a similar clinical picture. But it is possible and hidden, sluggish form of the disease. Symptoms such as chest pain with coughing, fever and other signs may not be present in weakened adolescents or adults.

The latent symptomatology of pneumonia can be observed in the elderly. In 25% of patients aged> 65 there is no increase in body temperature, and the disease can manifest as fatigue, weakness, nausea, lack of appetite, abdominal pain, impaired consciousness.

Objective signs of inflammation of the lungs

The next stage of diagnosis of the disease after questioning is examination of the patient, revealing the objective symptoms of pneumonia. These are signs of a disease that the doctor finds in the patient when examining, tapping the chest (percussion) and listening to the lungs (auscultation).

Classical objective symptoms are:

• Stupidity of percussion sound when tapping over inflamed areas of the lungs.
• Listening to hard breathing over a limited area of ​​the lung tissue at the site of inflammation.
• Local listening to sonorous small bubbling rales over the inflamed area of ​​the lung.

The main criterion that confirms pneumonia is the asymmetry of the lesion, that is, the presence of objective signs of inflammation of the lungs only on one side of the chest.

In almost 20% of cases, objective signs of pneumonia in patients may differ from the classical ones or absent. In these cases, latent symptoms can lead to diagnostic errors. Fortunately, in the arsenal of doctors there is a way to detect the inflammation of the lungs with the help of X-rays.

X-ray signs of pneumonia

The main x-ray symptom of pneumonia is a local compaction (infiltration) of lung tissue found in a patient with external signs of acute inflammation of the respiratory system.

The consolidation of the pulmonary tissue in pneumonia usually has a one-sided nature. Two-sided infiltration is rare. This symptom is more typical for swelling of the lungs, metastases of malignant tumors, systemic connective tissue diseases with respiratory organs.

An x-ray study with suspicion of pneumonia is conducted in all patients without exception: newborns, adolescents, adults, pregnant and lactating women, elderly people. This rule is associated with the danger of a diagnostic error, high mortality when delayed in prescribing antibiotics for patients with pneumonia.

Symptoms of viral pneumonia

Acute viral respiratory infection and pneumonia itself are various diseases. Viral infection, of course, is a leading risk factor for inflammation of the lungs. However, painful changes in the lung tissue caused by respiratory viruses should be clearly delimited from pneumonia. After all, the treatment of these conditions is fundamentally different. True microbial pneumonia is qualitatively different from that of lungs by viruses, which is characterized by bilateral infiltration along the way of the pulmonary vessels.

Viral infection, especially highly pathogenic influenza ("pork "avian"), can occur in the form of bilateral lung damage with inflammation in the course of the pulmonary vessels. At laboratory confirmation of the presence of highly pathogenic influenza virus in the patient's sputum and the absence of other pathogens in it, the diagnosis of viral pneumonia is justified.

The first significant symptoms of viral influenza pneumonia are rapidly increasing dyspnoea, an increase in temperature bodies to very high figures (9 9 ° C), a painful cough with bloody frothy sputum, a sharp general weakness. Influenza pneumonia is a very dangerous condition requiring treatment in the intensive care unit.

What is croupous pneumonia?

The term "croup pneumonia" is a traditional name for pneumococcal pneumonia, which has all the classic symptoms of lung inflammation in its entirety. Croup pneumonia is practically the only of all forms of this disease, in which a preliminary diagnosis corresponds to an aetiological (pneumococcal infection).

Croupous pneumonia develops sharply, beginning with a tremendous chill and a swift rise in body temperature to 39-40 ° C. An early sign is the appearance of chest pain on the side of the lesion, which is sharply aggravated by deep inhalation or coughing. First, the cough is dry, then on the second or third day of the disease, rusty or brown sputum appears. Characteristic signs are reddening of the face, especially on the side of the lesion, frequent shallow breathing to 30 per minute and more. Croup pneumonia usually affects one lung (usually the right one) and can capture 1, 2 or 3 lobes.

Atypical pneumonia in adolescents

The term "atypical pneumonia" means the belonging of the causative agent to microbes, called "atypical flora". Atypical flora are intracellular infectious agents - mycoplasma, chlamydia, legionella. Inflammation of the lungs, caused by mycoplasmas, most often affects young people in organized collectives - military service personnel, students, children, adolescents (20-30% of all pneumonia). And, on the contrary, at patients of the senior ages atypical pneumonia is diagnosed extremely seldom.

Atypical mycoplasmal or chlamydial infection is accompanied by muscle and headaches, chills, symptoms of ARI. Hemoptysis and chest pain are uncharacteristic of pneumonia caused by atypical flora.

Treat such a disease as atypical pneumonia, special drugs - antibiotics from a group of new macrolides (josamycin, rovamycin, spiramycin, klatsid). These drugs are approved for use in children and adolescents and do not cause intestinal dysbiosis.

ingalin.ru

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